A Different Kind of Father
by Cadaverlee
Summary: Gamzee just wanted to be a good father; give his son every chance he never had. AU, Humanstuck, adopted son.


A quick story I had to whip up for English. This isn't my first Homestuck fic, just the first one I've posted :P Personally, I wanted to do more with this, but I didn't want my teacher to flip out over how long it was gonna turn out to be. Might elaborate on it more later though.

AU, Humanstuck, Gamzee & Tavros are about 25-ish and have a son (adopted); Gamzee's father is _supposed_to be portrayed as The Grand Highblood, the CEO portrayed as The Condesce/The Imperial Condesce/etc. etc. (as you might have guessed.)

* * *

><p>Growing up, I hated my father. Sure he was on the highest rung he could be at, being the CEO's right hand man of a big corporate company, but he had failed as a father. He laughed at me when I started wearing clown make-up to hide the ugly scars from my first – and worst – bar fight, spittle flying onto my face as he did so. I was such a screw-up in his eyes. He even made fun of me when I told him I actually wanted to go to school and do something with myself.<p>

"What would _anyone _want with a two-bit clown freak like you?" he constantly screamed at me, laughing all the while like it was the most hilarious thing in the world. Yet he would still wonder why I kept myself locked away, music blaring to drown out the hideous laughter. Drugs helped... So I thought. They kept me away from reality long enough to crawl into bed at night and let sleep take care of the rest. They were expensive though. At first I thought my dad wouldn't notice, but in time he did. After that, I was on my own.

The day I finally snapped was when he actually hit me. Not a slap across the face, but a real punch straight to the gut. He was so _sick _of me being worthless, sick of seeing my face. That night I packed my duffel bag and headed out, thinking all the while that I was as sick of him as he was of me. Fair enough.

"You don't really care about me," I whispered to the night as I ran away, eager to get as far away from that place as I possibly could. Whether it was from me turning 18 soon after or because my dad never really cared, I was tremendously overjoyed; the cops never came looking for me.

.

.

I stand here now, six years later, in front of the door of _my _house. The one where _I'm _the father, where _I _have as much of a family as I need, and where _I'm_ happy. I opened the door, a lazy smile on my painted face. Tavros looked at me from the couch and greeted me with a wide smile. From the kitchen came our son, Mica. Like I said, I had as much of a family as I needed and I didn't need anyone preaching to me that I was sinning for having a male fiancee and adopting a son. I was happy as could be.

"Did you do your homework?" I asked Mica, hugging him.

"Yes dad," he replied, sighing. I looked at him with a questioning look. Mica rolled his eyes and muttered 'Never mind,' under his breath as he walked to his room. I frowned, but walked to the kitchen where Tav had moved to fix dinner; it was his turn tonight.

"Everything okay, Gamzee?" Tavros asked me, a concerned look on his face. I smiled.

"Everything's fine." I reply.

"Mica's report card came today. Now before you, uh, say anything, I think it's still okay that he-"

"A B and two C's?" I asked aloud.

"Gets those grades... Gamzee, do you even know how hard he's been working? Those AP classes are far from easy, you know." Tavros retorted defensively, and I could tell it was becoming a touchy territory.

"But if he wants to go to college, then he needs to bring these up."

"Who says I even want to go to college?" Mica shouted suddenly from the kitchen doorway. He had an angered look on his face.

"Look, Mica," I started, but was cut off.

"No, dad. Do you even know how long it's been since I've actually been _out_? My girlfriend is about ready to break up with me because I haven't be able to hang out with her! All I've been doing is working my tail off to try and please _you_!" he yelled.

"Mica, we've been through this before."

"Yeah, third time this week, 15Th time this month... whatever." Mica huffed in frustration and stomped back to his room. Before I could follow him, Tavros grabbed a hold of my arm.

"Let him go. You should really, uh, let it go too."

"Tavbro, I can't. I'm just trying-"

"I know," Tavros said. "Trying to be a good father. I know what happened with your father, remember? But you have to, uh, loosen up a little."

I looked at him. "Okay... Okay. I just want him to do good." I said, hugging him.

"Me too. Me too." Tavros replied, hugging me back.

.

.

I knocked softly on Mica's door later that night, wanting to apologize.

"Mica? Mica, open the door please. I'm... sorry. I'm sorry for earlier." I said through the door. There wasn't a reply.

"Mica. Open then door." I called, reaching for the doorknob. I was surprised to find it locked. Sighing, I went into the kitchen and fished a key from the back of a drawer.

"Hey, Mica, come on. You can't stay mad at me forever..." I whispered, unlocking his door and letting it swing open. The air in his room was unusually cold and the lights were off. As silently as I could, I made my way over to his bed in the dark. Clicking on the light next to his bed, I felt my stomach churn harshly. Next thing I knew, I was back in my room and panting. Tavros was sitting bolt upright and looking worried.

"Gamzee! What's wrong?" he called, getting out of bed.

"Mica... he's … Gone..." I choked out, collapsing onto the floor. I couldn't hear anything besides my own sobs and I hardly registered the fact that Tavros had wrapped his arms around me. All I could think of was 'It's my fault'. I pushed him too hard and he had run away, just like I did. My vision was severely blurred and I could feel make-up run down my face. When I felt like I had calmed down enough, I got up and went back to Mica's room, Tavros trailing me the whole way with a phone in his hands. I dimly thought of the police as I walked into Mica's room. I carefully looked around for anything that might let me know where he had went.

"Gamzee..." Tavros gasped from behind me. I spun around and went over to Mica's desk, where Tavros was standing with a hand to his mouth. Tears rolled down his cheeks. I looked down and saw a single note tapped to the desktop; 'You don't really care about me.'

"Why?" I asked the space around me, feeling my tears start again. The cold wind that I now knew came from the open window blew harshly against my side, telling me that I already knew the answer.


End file.
